Last month, Tappytoon recently added a new webtoon to their collection and this one may seem familiar to a few readers. It’s called Polarity, but to certain readers Reversi may be a more recognizable title. Reversi was a popular webtoon originally published on Lezhin back in 2016. However, more than a year ago, the controversial scandal involving Lezhin occurred. Commonly known as the “Lezhin Blacklist” on social media, the scandal involved Lezhin contracted creators calling out the company for a number of injustices that had been inflicted upon them, such as creator mistreatment, unfair pay, unfair penalty fees, and getting blacklisted.
This scandal was a huge deal. When the news was made public, Korean citizens went on protests. Laws ended up being reviewed, petitions were signed–this shook and impacted the webtoon community greatly. The Reversi creator EunSong was one of the Lezhin creators taken advantage of at the time. They were also one of the creators who led the protest against the company.
EunSong stopped the continuation of their comic during this time as lawsuits were filed (by both the involved creators and the company). Eventually, Reversi became one of the many webtoons removed from Lezhin.
The “Lezhin Blacklist” scandal lasted quite a while (occurring from around the end of 2017 to near the end of 2018). Lezhin ultimately apologized and complied to the the lawsuits made against them. They compensated creators, readjusted unfair contracts for current and future creators, and (among other fixes) implemented equal promotions for creators.
If you want to know more about the “Lezhin Blacklist,” this tumblr post gives a more detailed play-by-play of what went down.
But let’s move on from the scandal! This article is meant to celebrate the return of EunSong’s webtoon Reversi, now called Polarity, available on Tappytoon!
It is time for old readers of the webtoon, like myself, to rejoice! For new readers, join our celebration in welcoming the return of the webtoon because you’re going to love it too.
Synopsis:
“The hit series from EunSong returns with officially updated artwork, chapters, and additional scenes! With the sudden outbreak of a deadly virus, humanity is thrown into chaos. The few who survive it are either transformed into horrible cannibalistic creatures called “Worms,” or super-humans called “Anomalies.” Haru, a young Anomaly student at New Seoul High School, dreams of joining the prestigious “ISO” – an organization formed to fight the war against this virus. But the future in store for him is nothing like he imagined…“
If you haven’t gotten it yet from the synopsis, Polarity is a webtoon that falls into the genres of action, fantasy, and sci-fi. You’ll like it if you’re into dystopia or monsters. Humor is included and as to be expected–there’s a lot of gore.
Read the comic here: Polarity
Featured Image © EunSong, © Tappytoon
Bibliography
@TkfEjr. my name is EunSong. I’m the author of web comic series called “Reversi” from Lezhin Comics.Since the May 2017, my work has been excluded from the company’s entire promotions after I was listed on Lezhin Comics’ “blacklist”. Twitter, 30 Jan. 2018, 8:16 a.m., twitter.com/TkfEjr/status/958373270390128641.
EunSong. “Polarity.” Tappytoon Comics. Contents First. tappytoon.com/series/polarity/1. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019.
Goh, Vanessa. “What’s Up With Lezhin? – A Summary.” The Magic Rain, 12 Feb. 2018. themagicrain.com/2018/02/whats-up-with-lezhin-a-summary/#disqus_thread. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019.
porifra. “Rough summary on events leading to Lezhin tax investigation petition.” tumblr, porifra.tumblr.com/post/168424485685/rough-summary-on-events-leading-to-lezhin-tax. Accessed 15 Sept. 2019.
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